Monday, October 19, 2009

We packed up the car and headed out Friday afternoon with not a care in the world. We left our two little monkeys in the very good hands of their Mimi and hit the road. We stopped for an impromptu dinner at Ruth's Chris then continued on to our hotel. We checked in grabbed our coats and headed to the Bay front bar complete with outdoor fire places. I had another glass of wine and Josh had a drink himself.

The next day we got up and played the entire day by ear. We had a late lunch, saw a movie, shopped, went to an art walk and then did appetizers for dinner followed by late night pizza. We slept in, we snoozed and we went about our day without a care in the world. I remembered why I fell in love with my husband many years ago. I realized we continue to have so much more in common than just our home and children. We are still the crazy couple that stayed up all night on our first date talking and then watched the sunrise. A little more sleep deprived, but that same couple indeed.

We vowed to each other not to make it so long before we take another trip just the two of us. Then we hurried home to snuggle our babies.

Thank you Josh for being the wonderful husband and man you are. I am very lucky you love me too! Thanks for a fabulous weekend.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

I've been avoiding you, yes I have in a bad way. Trust me it's not you, so don't take it personal, it's me, all me. You know when you have that project, or test to study for, or appointment and you really just really can't even think about it. You avoid the topic or subject or in my case blogger at all cost. I haven't even been reading blogs until tonight. It's sad and true. I have no idea why. I've actually gotten anxious and nauseous thinking about how I haven't blogged or documented milestones or told any of the cute antidotes that have happened here in the past few weeks. And that my friends was a clear sign that it was time to step away from the computer.

These past few days I've been feeling down and like crap. Not depressed and no I don't need medication (not that there is anything wrong with that, I just haven't needed it). No, just typical off days. Days were I can't get my shit together or anyone else's. This week alone, I lost my keys at the movies, my ipod, my 23 month old --- oh I kid the ipod is not really missing! But you know the days or weeks when we just can't get it together, we all have them.

I feel like my life is constant choas and I'm always exhausted and just can't get it straight. I'm treading water as fast as I can and I am barely staying afloat. In fact several times this week I have been late (GASP!) Me, the one always early was late, more than once.

So this weekend my husband is whisking me away to a romantic weekend on Mobile Bay. Be jealous, it's the first time we have gone away for a weekend together since Meredith was born. I know far too long since the last time.

I am hoping I will have time to regroup, relax and then be back, back to my old self. Handling the daily chaos and easily staying afloat.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Let me start this off by saying in college, I made what some people (uh-hm my mother) would call a very poor decision. Let's be honest, I made several poor decisions in college, but this one really stands out to some people (uh-hm again my mother.) At 19 I got a tattoo. Yes, a real one, one that hurt like all get out going on. It's small well smallish, it could almost be covered by a quarter, but not quite, and oh it's on my derriere. Yep, got a permanent Phi Mu stamp right above my derriere on the right side. What can I say, damn sorority girls.

For five years I concealed it very well in front of my mother, always picking bathing suits that hid it or jeans that didn't go that low when I was in front of her, until that one fateful day at a camp on Lake Pontchartrain. That day I didn't do to good a job, to be honest I'd had it so long and had kind of forgotten about it. Oh well, now she is taking it to the grave, right mom?

So that brings me to today. Today Meredith brought a gift to her little friend in dancing whose princess party we missed Friday afternoon due to the swine flu. Yes, she was devastated. The little girl had brought Meredith some of her princess party favors. The favor included a glittery princess wand, princess socks and 3, yes 3 princess tattoos! My 3 1/2 year old was in love! She got in the car declaring "Oh I just love it, love it, love it!"

"Mom can we put on my tattoo now?"

"Huh?"

"My new tattoos from my friend"

"What you know about tattoos girlfriend?"

giggling

"Momma, can we put it on now?"

"No bug, we can put them on at home because we need water to put them on."

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Since our very recent trip to Disney I thought I would make a list of 10 things 11 things I learned at Disney this year....in no way is this list anything other than my personal thoughts, but use it like a bible people!

11. Strollers to bring or not to bring? - The Disney strollers are expensive, they are not comfortable, but they are convenient in that you don't have to bring them from home or fold them and bring them back to the room on a bus. But then you do have to bring the tired/cranky child back without a stroller if you use a Disney a Disney stroller. Remember you will also be tired and carrying a 35+lb child is heavy, carrying two is nearly impossible. We brought our umbrella stroller to have one to wheel one child back, we wish we had two late at night. Our intention was to leave it at the park during the day parked outside a restaurant and then to use the Disney double while at the park to only push one. Then at night when we were leaving we were going to pick up the umbrella stroller to wheel the sleeping/tired child back to the hotel. However, our kids hated the Disney stroller, it is not conducive to napping or sleeping and they fought over the Maclaren we brought from home. Next time I will bring two umbrella strollers and forgo the whole renting from Disney. Pushing two is also easier than navigating a double and not a big deal to us. Last year I brought my very big baby jogger,that is super comfy, lots of shade and easy to push, however it is not easy to fold, not compact, and heavy which does not make it a great stroller to transport on Disney's bus system. On Disney's bus system the children must be removed from the stroller and the stroller folded to get on the bus. When you take the monorail you can keep them in the stroller and just wheel it on....so convenient! The buses are not though, your husband will be the one to hold that stroller while standing on a breathing room only bus. Just something to think about.

10. Meal Package-- The jury is still out as to whether this is a good thing. After our trip last year, I said I would never go without it. Well you know what they say about saying never. Anyway the package we got allowed for 1 snack,1 quick meal, and1 table service. And those come with an entree, a LARGE (overpriced)drink, and a desert. Now let me say that if I didn't have the meal plan I may just opt for the entree and a smaller drink. However my meal plan obviously pays for a large drink, an entree with a side, and a desert. I would never buy the desert if it wasn't with the plan. At least not with every meal, especially a quick service meal which is like fast food. But it comes with it right....don't be silly guys,Disney doesn't give away anything for free. You are paying for it. Decide if it is worth it. Also the sit downs come with a desert as well, for every person you get a desert, a bunch of money spent I normally would not spend. If we did get the desert we would all get one to share....just saying. And the price range has to be pretty big for the meal plan, one lunch cost us $60 and one $100 and they were both covered for a sit down,you know which base you are paying right....remember Disney isn't giving anything away. Oh and another thing I had a friend mention you could bring bread and get peanut butter packets and jelly and make sandwiches to save money, I did not see that or any PB&J packets at all. I did see lunches that people made ahead of time and brought in. But let's be realistic unless you have a kitchen in your hotel and are staying off Disney in a condo with a kitchen and bringing lunch in,you have to eat, I just don't know if the meal plan is the way to go.

9. Reservations....decide where you want to eat 6 months from now....Seriously -- Yes,my friends if you don't make dinner reservations when you book your trip or 6 months out at least.... forget about it. Josh and I came home with 2 adult sit down dinners and 1 child sit down dinner. Not because we were sick of Disney food and refused to use the money we had already spent on the dinner.....nope we simply could not get a reservation. We even ate at a place that used 2 table service credits and we still didn't get a chance to use all of them. So the day you book your trip book your dinners. You don't even have to show up the reservations you make, unless it is one that needs a credit card reservation which is only a handful. You can make the reservation, with good intentions to show and then not and there is no penalty, which is a major part of the problem, but that is a different story. So make one for at least every day in case. That being said if you want a character dinner, call the day you can to reserve your spot, especially if you want to dine at Cinderella's table in the castle at the Magic Kingdom. Which also leads to this,if you don't use all of your meal plan vouchers you do not get a refund from Disney. So book those reservations early. Some of our favorites are Akershus(Epcot princess dinner), Sci Fi Cafe(where you eat in a car), Chef Mickey (character lunch at Contemporary), 1800 Park Fare (Cinderella dinner at Grand Floridian), we also did breakfast at Crystal Palace (nothing to write home about, but very conveniently located in the Magic Kingdom.) There were also two other restaurants that were in the Magic Kingdom and looked good an Italian place right when you enter and a sandwich place, but we couldn't get reservations at those.

8. The food stinks,but you aren't there to eat right?-- Okay let me start this by saying I am originally from New Orleans, so I like spice and flavor in everything I eat. The food at Disney is all the same and after a few days taste the same too, it's just prepared and served a different way everywhere. Seriously, it is all the same and mediocre at best. And after 5 days of eating Disney food, you would give your first born for McDonald's or something else that isn't served in a Mouse ear tray. Trust me. At this point take a break from the park and go to downtown Disney. Guess what....they have a McDonald's and other restaurants that are much better than Disney food. Or at least I think that! Take a night to go shop and pay a very inflated price for a big mac or make reservations at Rainforest Cafe and take a break from Disney dining. Especially when you have no reservations that night (not for lack of trying) and you cannot eat another hamburger,nugget or chicken wrap!

7. Don't feel like you have to do it all --- Disney is huge. In fact we saw quite a bit this last time that we didn't even venture to last year when we went. And you know what our kids didn't know they missed anything. Disney is big, trying to accomplish it all with 2 small tikes in not possible. Don't' try and your kids won't know the difference. We went for the week. We love Disney and we love not feeling like we have to cram it all in 4 or5 days. We stayed 7 nights and although some people think that is too long,but it was just right for us. That being said we hung out at the pool one afternoon and took a night at downtown Disney.

6. Remember your kids ages, let them act that way,you try and remember not to-- If your kids are 22 months and 3,expect them to throw a tantrum when they don't get their way or when they are just plum exhausted. However remember you are probably in your 20s or 30s and you throwing a tantrum to is not going to solve anything and just cause the whole situation to get worse quick! And me to write about you on my blog. There were more kids crying and adults yelling than my poor head could take. Remember they are kids guys, no crying would be unreal.

which leads to...

5. For being the happiest place on earth, there are a lot of tears at Disney -- Disney days are long, it requires patience and kids will be immediately whacked off their normal, typical schedule and out of their routine. However kids are pretty resilient and will normally do well. It's the parents who struggle and spend the afternoon in tears fighting with their significant other about whether he brought the camera, left the wipes at the hotel, brought the rights snacks in the backpack or walked the wrong way down the street. Oh I kid, but realize it is long days for everyone and you will see more tears from tired kids and exhausted parents. Try to just roll with it and save the reprimanding at loud decibels for when your kids are in their normal environment, with their normal routine. If you expect them to roll with it, learn to roll with it too.

4. For being geared towards kids, Disney is pretty damn dark! -- The rides besides the teacups, dumbo, magic carpet, carousel, and roller coasters are pretty freaking scary. Even Small World scares the crap out of me, although the kids love it! But Snow White's ride, Pooh's ride, and Peter pan are pretty dark and really loud as well as lots of the shows. Noah sat with a sheer look of terror on his face and occasionally cried. Meredith covered her ears and eyes for most of them. Of course Meredith covers her ears a lot! It's her thing, her coping mechanism if you will and who am I to mess with that?

3. If you kids don't sleep with you at home, they won't sleep with you in Disney either! -- So from about day 1 our kids have slept in their own beds. They go to sleep on their own and sleep all night upstairs in their own rooms, in their own beds. Unless they are sick and wake up sick in the middle of the night that is where they are. That being said it is very interesting and frustrating trying to get two small tikes to sleep in one hotel room with us. Josh and Noah shared a bed and me and Meredith, they were pretty certain they could stay up until whenever and it was party time. Josh and Noah often strolled the resort grounds to get him to sleep. Just don't expect Disney to always exhaust them and them to fall asleep magically in the room with you. Tinkerbell doesn't sell fairy dust for that! One night they did fall asleep and stay asleep as we transported them onto the bus and then into the room. One night, the rest was a battle between us and them!

2. The Monorail Resorts - If you can afford it, go for it! The convenience is worth it. Enough said!

1. Those Mouse ears only look good in Orlando! - Disney sells it all and almost every ride dumps you right into a store of some type. Your kids will want and to be honest so will you! Remember those mouse ears are not quite as cute in your hometown. Even if the trip is a once in a lifetime thing, limit the mouse paraphernalia. Don't go overboard....seriously...no one sported their mouse ears once we hit nola!

Contact Me

You can contact me at 2tikesunder2@gmail.com

Meet Me...Mandi

I am a wife, a mother, a daughter and a sister! I became a wife in May of 2005, a mother in April of 2006, the mother of 2 tikes under 2 in November of 2007 and the mother of the caboose in July of 2010. I have survived hurricane katrina, three pregnancies and c-sections, a major kitchen renovation, the start of real school, a move and I am trying to survive motherhood and three tikes. Come on in and stay for a while. I promise to be honest and to the point. There is no sugar coating motherhood and life around here.

My husband

He is the love of my life, my husband, my partner, my best friend. He patience is endless, he is a great dad and goes above and beyond as a husband and man. He helps with the laundry, he will cook dinner if needed, he cleans the kitchen at night and bathes the tikes. I could not find anyone better if I tried. He is my love.

Meet Meredith

My six year old. Who reads more than she speaks and has a thirst for knowledge. She's as kind hearted as they come and had more diva in her little toe than I do my entire body.

Meet Noah

My five year old, who speaks more than he breathes. Quiet is not in his vocabulary. He's so inquisitive and hands on. Is the most kind hearted little boy you will ever meet.

Meet Margot

The two year old, who gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "terrible twos". She is fiercely independent and walks to the beat of her own drum that she beats on quite frequently. Is obsessed with dancing and Dumbo.

Meet Brownie Jane

Our lovable 80+ lb chocolate lab. She can eat popsicle sticks whole, has had more surgeries than we have money for. Drinks out of the toilet and thinks the king size bed is hers.